{"id":16984,"date":"2026-06-20T12:54:15","date_gmt":"2026-06-20T12:54:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dev.iita.org\/news-item\/scientists-say-new-spacing-could-guarantee-more-yield-for-cowpea\/"},"modified":"2026-06-29T18:28:36","modified_gmt":"2026-06-29T18:28:36","slug":"scientists-say-new-spacing-could-guarantee-more-yield-for-cowpea","status":"publish","type":"news-item","link":"https:\/\/iita.org\/fr\/news-item\/scientists-say-new-spacing-could-guarantee-more-yield-for-cowpea\/","title":{"rendered":"Scientists say new spacing could guarantee more yield for cowpea"},"content":{"rendered":"CGIAR scientists are recommending a new spacing regime for cowpea that could give farmers up to 79% more yield if adopted. The new spacing is a result of a study on the<a href=\"https:\/\/www.cambridge.org\/core\/services\/aop-cambridge-core\/content\/view\/012F45160F6BEE1CC71CE1F082DCB97D\/S0014479716000715a.pdf\/div-class-title-effects-of-plant-density-on-the-performance-of-cowpea-in-nigerian-savannas-div.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">\u00a0Effects of plant density on the performance of cowpea in Nigerian savannas<\/a>, conducted during the 2013 and 2014 growing seasons at the IITA experimental stations in Kano and Zaria.\n<div id=\"attachment_1950\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\">\n\n<a href=\"https:\/\/iita.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/1024_DSC_3978.jpg\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1950\" src=\"https:\/\/iita.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/1024_DSC_3978.jpg\" alt=\"Picture of Cowpea is both a delicacy and livelihood crop for many African households.\" width=\"1024\" height=\"551\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-1950\" \/><\/a>\n<p id=\"caption-attachment-1950\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Cowpea is both a delicacy and livelihood crop for many African households.<\/p>\n\n<\/div>\nThe study addressed the need to devise a viable alternative that would help limit the bottlenecks that farmers undergo in cultivating cowpea\u2014a highly nutritious crop yet easily susceptible to\u00a0<em>parasitic weeds<\/em>, and pest and disease infestation. It looked at the large disparity in farmers\u2019 yield (0.3 Mg\/ha) and yield obtainable on experimental plots (1.5-2.5 Mg\/ha) and proposed simple agronomic practices that could help reverse the trend.\n\nBy simply adjusting plant density, researchers found that grain yield significantly improved from 1.20 Mg\/ha for a density of 133,333 plants per ha to 2.16 Mg\/ha for a density of 400,000 plants per ha. Yield also increased by 68% when planted at a density of 266,666 plants\/ha and 79% when planted at a density of 400,000 plants\/ha.\n\nThese findings could potentially benefit over 20 million people in West and Central Africa depending on cowpea for their livelihood.\n\nBut how can the smallholder African farmer immediately start getting more from his field? The study explains that in addition to planting improved cowpea varieties, farmers must immediately change from using the current 75 by 20 cm spacing with two seeds planted per stand (this spacing gives 133,333 plants\/ ha) to double or triple rows on ridges spaced 75 cm apart to achieve corresponding densities of 266,666 and 400,000 plants per ha, respectively.\n\nAccording to the study, these densities gave higher crop performance in terms of light interception, biomass production, yield, and yield components.\n\n\u201cThe answer is very simple. Since cowpea like any other grain crop in northern Nigeria is grown on ridges spaced 75 cm apart, the only option to increase plant density is to increase the number of rows planted per ridge from 1 to 2 or 3 rows. This way, smallholder farmers can increase cowpea grain and fodder yields if they adopt a density of 266,666 plants or more per ha\u00a0in cowpea cultivation,\u201d said the scientists.\n\nThe study was conducted by IITA\u2019s\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/iita.org\/fr\/kamara-alpha\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Alpha Kamara<\/a>,\u00a0Abdullahi Tofa,\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/iita.org\/fr\/boahen-stephen\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Stephen Kyei-Boahen<\/a>,\u00a0Reuben Solomon,\u00a0and\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/iita.org\/fr\/kamai-nkeki\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Nkeki Kamai<\/a>, et\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/iita.org\/fr\/ajeigbe-hakeem\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Hakeem Ajeigbe<\/a>\u00a0from the International Crop Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (<a href=\"http:\/\/www.icrisat.org\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">CIRDI<\/a>).","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>CGIAR scientists are recommending a new spacing regime for cowpea that could give farmers up to 79% more yield if adopted.<\/p>","protected":false},"featured_media":16985,"template":"","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center 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